REVIEW: A Cruel Arrangement by Tijan

A Cruel Arrangement by Tijan: For most of her life Molly has been on her own, what she has, she has worked hard to achieve, so when her fathers past comes knocking on her door Molly is less than thrilled to find herself dragged into a mess that is not hers to clean up. What was a pretty normal life soon changes when mafia boss Ashton Walden decides to use Molly to get back at her father. Soon Molly learns that the bowling alley that she had bought from her useless father actually now belongs to Ashton and if she wants her beloved Easter Lanes back then she has no choice but to convince her father to do Ashtons bidding… Maybe what started out as a cruel arrangement might just be the thing that Molly needs to finally find her footing in life…

In true Tijan style we get an interesting and captivating mafia romance. I liked that A Cruel Arrangement was very much a traditional mafia book in that there was a lot more war, murders, torture and gore in this book apposed to the last. I will say that I would highly recommend reading A Dirty Business first, there are a lot of overlaps and to fully be able to appreciate this book you need the back story from the first book in the series.

Molly was a total ball of sunshine, her character was so light and full of positive energy. I loved that she brought a lighter note to a book that could have been a whole lot darker with all the mafia business. More than anything I really enjoyed getting to see her character grow as the book progressed, she started of as this innocent little flower and transformed into this strong powerful woman that was able to hold her own in such a turbulent environment.

“You run and I’ll burn the world down for you.”

Our hero was an interesting one, now if you have read the first book then you will understand why I was a bit apprehensive about loving Ashton, but boy does he redeem himself! I loved getting to know his character better and uncovering why he acts the way he does and how his past has caused this behavior. One of the things I loved about Ashton was how unapologetically himself he was, he owned his actions.

The banter and passion in this book was brilliant! I loved the fact that these two characters balanced each other so perfectly. Molly was the light to Ashtons darkness. Not only did they bring out the best side in each other but I loved the banter that they had flowing between them. I really enjoyed getting to see Molly bring out the softer more protective side to Ashton as their relationship grew. It was really nice getting to see Jess and Trace again and getting to see how their story concluded. Also I have to mention I loved the fact that Tijan kept us guessing as to who the killer was right until the end.

A Cruel Arrangement is a total must read this mafia romance checked so many of the right boxes but most importantly it had a great balance between action  suspense, drama and romance.

Book Info:

Publication: April 25, 2023 | Montlake | Kings of New York #2

This was my place. My business. Easter Lanes.

Then a guy comes in, trying to rob me, daring to take it away from me.

My home. My life.

Hell no. I won’t let my livelihood be threatened.

No one knows what I’ve done to build this life for myself.

Except he might.

Ashton Walden, a man I remember from when we were kids.

Even back then I could tell how dangerous he would be one day.

He’s now the head of the Walden mafia family, and my father is so in debt to them that they practically own him.

My dad and I are estranged and I want nothing to do with him or his debt, but the day after the attempted robbery, I don’t wake up in the hospital.

I wake up in Ashton Walden’s home. And he drops a bomb on me.

If I want my livelihood back, I need to earn it back.

And thus begins our cruel arrangement.